Antonio Rudiger took a sly dig at Tottenham as he revealed his hardest opponent.
Having performed within the Premier League, LaLiga and the Bundesliga, Rudiger has had the unenviable job of holding a number of the deadliest strikers quiet.
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The Actual Madrid star has come up in opposition to the likes of Luis Suarez, Karim Benzema, Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski all through the course of his profession.
Nonetheless, it was not a ahead that Rudiger declared as essentially the most tough rival he’d encountered.
As an alternative, it was a midfielder he performed simply twice.
Talking on an episode of The Inside Scoop, Rudiger revealed former Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele was his hardest opponent.
However the 31-year-old was left in disbelief that the north London aspect was the best stage he performed at when it comes to golf equipment.
“Like, wow,” Rudiger stated.
“This man, that he did not play, no disrespect to Tottenham, however that he did not play at an even bigger membership, I do not know the way. I actually do not know the way, as a result of he had every little thing.
“This man, I’ve by no means seen somebody so sturdy like him. He was like a wall.
“And method, he does not know strain. You possibly can move him the ball, two males may be behind him, no downside.”
The one occasions Rudiger and Dembele got here up in opposition to each other was within the 2017/18 Premier League season.
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Chelsea acquired the higher of Tottenham within the first encounter in August 2017, profitable 2-1 as each performed the complete match.
However Tottenham acquired their revenge within the return fixture at Stamford Bridge as they received 3-1 in April 2018.
Rudiger just isn’t the primary individual to have made such a powerful declare about Dembele’s outstanding skill.
Martin Jol, who was in cost throughout Dembele’s keep at Fulham, waxed lyrical in regards to the Belgian after Tottenham triggered his £15million launch clause in August 2012.
“We have had just a few gamers over the previous few years who’re a category above,” Jol stated in 2012.
“Dembele might be one of the best participant on the ball I’ve ever seen, and we misplaced him.”
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Following his transfer from Fulham, Dembele went on to make 249 appearances in all competitions for Tottenham.
However his time in north London got here to an finish in January 2019 as Dembele joined Chinese language Tremendous League aspect Guangzhou R&F for simply £11m.
He solely turned out 47 occasions for the Chinese language outfit earlier than electing to retire on the finish of the 2022 CSL season.